Insanity plea possible in case of murder and torture of grandfather

The defense and prosecution brought up the possibility of an insanity plea by a Willits man accused of the torture and murder of his 84-year-old grandfather during last week's court hearings aimed at setting a new trial date.

Kenneth Wilkinson, 23, is accused of dragging Richard Mel Wilkinson to his death the night of March 17, 2012. District Attorney David Eyster said during Kenneth Wilkinson's arraignment he intended to seek a sentence of life without the possibility of parole even though the statute allows consideration of the death penalty.

The trial had been scheduled for February 4 but the original public defender assigned to the case has been hospitalized recently and the public defender's office needed more time to bring another attorney up to speed on the case. Public Defender Linda Thompson will be taking over the case. She was in court last week to request a later trial date. The new trial date is May 6.